Internal combustion engine



G. S. OSTERBERG 1,977,200

INTERNAL GOMBUSTION ENGINE Oct. 1 6, 1934.

Filed 'Apr-i1 19, 1930 IN V EN TOR.

Patented Oct. 16, 1934 UNITED STATES 1,977,200 INTERNAL coMBUs'rroNENGINE Gotthard S. Osterberg,A Detroit, Mich., assigner to RobertSuczek, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.

Application April 19, 1939, Serial No. 445,619

8 Claims.

My present invention relates to internal combustion engines in generaland is adapted for use in connection with gasoline or petrol engines,heavy fuel engines like Diesel engines or any other kind of enginesusing liquid fuel for power producing. Y

1t may be used 0n engines for stationary purposes and for automotivepurposes in automobiles and aero-planes.

l() The purpose of my present invention is:

(l) To increase-the power output perunit of displaced volume of anengine without a special compressor of large dimensions.

(2) To insure smooth operation by equal distributlon of fuel to the'different cylinders of a multicylinder engine. f

(3) To reduce the fuel consumption per horse power produced by theengine.

(4) To produce an easy ignitable and economic 2() mixture of air andfuel without reducing the power output of the engine and to makestarting in cold weather easy and dependable.

(5) To increase the volumetric efficiency of the engine.

(6) To use higher compression ratios without knock.

My invention resides in utilizing the inertia of the incoming air toproduce a supercharging edect on the cylinder during the suction strokeof the piston.

My invention further resides in the substantially equal distribution ofthe fuel into the individual cylinders of a multi-cylinder engine and inthe method of and apparatus for producing the combustible mixtureconsisting of air and fuel and in controlling, or automatically varyingthe ratio ofair and fuel of the mixture.

For an illustration cf some of the forms my invention may take, and foran illustration of some of the forms of apparatus for carrying out myinvention and method, reference is to be had to the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic sketch of thelarrangement embodying myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 a vertical sectional view ofthe carbureter and fuel pumprepresenting section AA of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 a horizontal sectional view of the fuel pump along line BB inFig. 3. v

Fig; 5 is a possible diagrammatic arrangement of the levers operatingthe throttles controlling the fuel inlet and the air inlet.

Fig. 6 is another modification of my invention embodying the Carburationand distribution 3G- cording to my new method but with different means.

Fig. 7 is a. horizontal section through Fig. 6 along line CC.

Figs. 1 and 2 indicate my invention in connec- 60 tion with amulticylinder internal combustion engine having for instance two blocksof cylinders forming a V.l The cylinders within the blocks 1 and 2 workwith their pistons on a common shaft 3. Each cylinder of the engine hasprefer- 65 ably an individual inlet port 4 to which is connected atubular intake conduit which I shall call in the following the ramingtube.

These raming tubes may either be cylindricalv as shown on the right sidecylinder block 2 in Fig. 'I0 1 or they may be convergent divergent asshown on block 1. The inlets 8 of these raming tubes 5 communicate withthe common header 8, which is open at least at one side 9. Through thisopen end air may enter into the header 8 and from there into theindividual raming tubes 5 as the pistons corresponding to the individualraming tubes are on the suction stroke. This common header 8 is onlyused when the air inlet is supposed to be controlled by a throttlevalve. The

' header may be omitted if no throttling of the air The fuel is injectedinto the air intake passage through pipes 10 by a pump 11. This pump is85 driven by a shaft 12 by means of gear 13 from the shaft 14 (whichmaybe the camshaft) which in turn is driven by any suitable or desirablemeans from the main shaft 3 of the engine. On top of pump 11 (Fig. 3) isa carbureting device comprising a float chamber 15, inlet valve 16controlled by float 1'7y and a nozzle 18 projecting the liquid jet offuel upwardly against a deflecting plate 19 carried by a mushroom-likecover 20. The air enters in the direction of the arrow 21 under thecover 20 into the Venturi tube Whose throat is at 22 and ows aroundplate 19 towards valve 23, mixing on its way with the fuel, which isdeflected downwardly by the plate 19.

After the mixture has passed valve 23 it enters 100 the pump r11 whichwill be described later.

The air entering through opening 9 into the header 8 is controlled by avalve 24 (Fig. 2).

'Ihe action of a ram tube is best explained by the fact, that once aninlet valve of the engine is 105 opened and the piston corresponding tosuch valve starts on its way on the suction stroke a certain portion ofthe air within header 8, all the air within the particular ram tube 5and in the intake Vpassage 25, also the gases in the explosion cham,-

ber 26 have to be set into motion and accelerated tofollow the motion ofthe piston. Of this inertia of the gases in the induction conduitadvantage is taken to raise the pressure within the cylinder at the endof the suction stroke to a value close to atmospheric or above.

The motion of all these gases and vapors will be still there when thepiston has come to a standstill in the outer dead end center and thekinetic energy of the gases will be converted into pressure, thusraisingthe pressure of the charge within the cylinder. Experiments have shownthat this raming effect is so great as to cause the compression pressure(when the piston is in its inner dead center) to be 10 to 25% greaterthan the compression pressure without raming effect. Obviously the meaneffective pressure will be correspondingly higher and thus the poweroutput of the engine will be accordingly increased in a similar way asit is accomplished mechanically by means of an air pump or superchargeror compressor.

The degree of the supercharging effect by the raming tube, that is theincrease in compression pressure depends upon the length, diameter andshape of the raming tube 5. Experiments show that with a well designedraming induction pipe a supercharging effect may be obtained at allloads and speeds and that the peak of the effect may be placed at anydesirable load and speed by varying the length and the diameter of theram tube.

In order to obtain an equal fuel distribution into all cylinders of theengine I employ injection nozzles 27'and inject the metered fuel eitherinto each ram tube 5 or into the air passage closely adjacent to theinlet valve as indicated in the right hand cylinder block of Fig 1. Inorder to be able to control the amount of fuel according to load andspeed of the motor I mix the fuel with some air before it is deliveredto nozzle 27. This air together with the fuel vapor will have anentraining effect on the intake air and will also increase thesupercharging effect. To mix the fuel with a certain amount of airbefore it enters the nozzle 27 I employ a carbureter of any known type(15, 16, 17, 18, 19) Fig. 3 and deliver this primary mixture into a wetair pump or compressor through valve 23. The ratio of fuel deliveredthrough nozzle 18 to the amount of primary air sucked into the throat 22is approximately constant and the amount of fuel and air sucked into thewet pump depends, as with any known carbureter, upon the position of thethrottle valve 23. Pump 11 delivers this primary mixture of air, liquidfuel and evaporated fuel through pipes 10 into each ram tube 5. Themetering of the primary mixture is accomplished by the new design of thepump 11 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 which forms. an important part of mypresent invention.

The upper part of Fig. 3 indicates a suitable carbureter deviceconsisting of well known elements as float 17 in housing 15. 416 beingthe fuel inlet valve controlled` in any desirable way by the float 17.18 is the fuel injection nozzle, 19'the defiector against which the fueljet projects. 22 is the throat of the venturi as found in mostcarbureters used today and 20 is the cover. The air enters through theports 30 in the direction of the arrows 21. 'The liquid fuel isdelivered at 29, flows through valve 16 into the float housing 15 andfrom there into nozzle 18. The

amount of air and fuel and the pressure within the throat 22 iscontrolled by the throttle valve 23,

After the mixture has passed the valve 23 it enters the inlet port 31 ofthe pump 11. This pump consists of two rotating elements. A hollowcylinder 32 and the piston 33. This piston 33 is rotating with thecylinder and is carrying a suitable number of vanes 34 Figs. 3 and 4.The pump cylinder 32 is rotatably fitted into pump housing 11 and isdriven by shaft 12. Within the bore of the cylinder 32 is eccentricallylocated the rotor or piston 33. It is keyed to the shaft 35 which isjournaledin bearings 36 and 37 carried by the cylinder.

The upper end of shaft 35 is carrying a pinion 38 whose teethoperatively engage with the teeth of -an internal gear 39. By rotatingthe cylinder 32 around shaft 12 the rotor or piston 33 with gear 38perform the same motion around axis 12. This rotation causes gear 38 toperform a second motion around its own shaft and axis 35, forcing therotor 34 to assume a relative eccentric motion within the cylinder 33.'I'his relative rotating motion in turn causes together with the vanes34 the pumping action of the pump by coacting relation of the suctionport 40 and the discharge port 41 of Figs. 3 and 4 in a well knownmanner.

The mixture flows into the suction port 40 through and between the gears38 and 39 and its pressure is increased by the action of the vanes ofthe rotor, leaving the cylinder by the port 41. Due to the rotation ofthe calender this port is brought into successive registration withports 43 in pump housing 11. These ports communicate by conduits 10 withnozzles 27 through which the primary mixture is delivered into theraming tubes and into the cylinders. By spacing the ports 43 equally onthe periphery of the housing 11 an equal amount of mixture or fuel willbe distributed into each conduit l0 and consequently to the enginecylinders. l

To further ensure equality of the fuel charges delivered into the enginecylinders it is of advantage to make the. number of vanes of the rotor33 equal to the number of engine cylinders.

The common header 8 forms a continuation of the ram tubes 5 due to thefact that the air column 120 within is accelerated and retarded with theair in tubes 5, but since the accelerated volume within the header 8 isdifferent for different cylinders I prefer not to utilize the ramingeffect of the header to any appreciable extent in order not to obtaindifferent raming pressures in the different cylinders of the engine. Itherefore keep the velocity within the header 8 low by giving it agreater diameter than the diameter of the ram tube proper.

At the open end 9 of the header I place a throttle valve 24 (Fig. 2) tocontrol the amount of air entering the cylinders of the engine, in casequantitative regulation is desirable. Then valve 23 controls the fuelinlet and valve 24 the air 135 inlet.

By opening and closing these valves at certain rates in relation to loadand speed of the engine a purely qualitative or a combination ofqualitative and quantitative regulation may be obtained. No valve 24 isrequired however for a purely qualitative regulation of the explosivemixture.

By operating these two Avalves so that the rate of opening of both ofthem would be alike would give a constant mixture ratio at the cylinderof the engine or a purely quantitative regulation. This is the generalfault of the carbureters marketed at present. It is preferable to changethe mixture ratio with different loads. AA rich mixture at 10W load(idling) and an increasingly 150 leaner mixture with increasing load, ismost preferable if smooth running and economy of the eng-ine areexpected; I therefore connect the operating levers of the 2 valves 24and 23 with the foot pedal (Fig. 5) or accelerator in such a way thatthe opening ratio of the valve opening rate varies during the stroke ofthe accelerator pedal.v

'Ihe dead center line of the air valve leverage is- YY-that of the fuelvalve leverage is XX. Driving lever 47 is in vertical position to XX at,the beginning of the opening of valve 23. The angular travels of lever52 will be decreasing per unit of angular travel of lever 47. While thedriving lever 46 is under an angle less than 90 degrees towards the deadcenter line YY at the beginning of the opening period of valve 24. Theangular travel of the driven lever 49 and valve 24 willbe increasing perunit of angular travel of lever 46 as the valve opens. Thus if theposition of levers and valves in Fig. 5 corresponds to idling the fuelvalve will open at the beginning faster than the air valve and withincreased load the air valve opens faster than the fuel valve. If'valve24 is omitted, then the header 8 may be omitted too, and the ramingtubes are open at the end to the atmosphere.

A modified structure of my invention is shown in Fig. 6. There 54 isthegasoline tank with oat 55 and valve 56. 57 is the compressor housingwith eccentric rotor 58, driven and rotated by shaft 59. The shaft ofthe rotor extends upwardly to form a tubular extension 60 with holes 61.62 is the suction opening, 63 the discharge opening of the compressor.The air is sucked in through pipe 64 in which is placed a butterflyvalve 65. The hollow shaft 60 carries a rotating diffuser 66 which is ofconvergent divergent shape. At

'the throat of this diffuser is placed the orifice 67 of nozzle 68.Through this the gasoline is sprayed into the air flow. Nozzle 68communicates with the space 69 formed by the two cylindrical tubes 70and 7l. 7l being rotatable with shaft 60 and diffuser 66 while 70 is astationary part of the gasoline tank.

The level of the fuel in the tank is kept approximately constant at 72and the fuel is sucked and rises into the space 69 and into nozzle 67and is thrown with the air fiow through the diffuser into the receivingchambers or channels 73, which chambers are equally spaced around theperiphery surrounding the diffuser. See Fig. 7.

The receiving channels 73 are connected to the intake of the engine ina. similar manner as shown in Fig. Al.

The operation is as follows:

The air delivered by the compressor into the diffuser 66 attains a highvelocity at the throat of the diffuser and acts sucking on the fuelorifice 67. The fuel is raised and fiows through the orifice towards thereceiving channels 73 from where it flows into the engine cylinders. Theflow towards and through the orifice 67 is supported by the centrifugalforce due to the radial arrangement of nozzle 68. The shaft 59 issynchronized with the engine and driven at half the speed of the engine.At high speed when a greater quantity of fuel is required per unit timebe inadequate.

a greater suction will be applied at 67 due to the Y greater airquantity delivered by the compressor, and at low speed a smallerquantity of air will be delivered by the compressor anc;` less fuel willbe sucked into and thrown out of nozzle 67. The quantity of air enteringthe compressor can be regulated at any speed by the throttle 65.

'Ihe air entering into the compressor through pipe 64 is only a smallportion of the air quantity required by the motor for combustion, thelarger remaining part being sucked by the engine hlrough the ram orintake tubes (intake mani- The receiving chambers 73 are connected inflringvorder to the cylinders or the intake ports of the engine.

The arrangement of the fuel orifice within the diffuser makes the fueldelivery independent ,of the sucking action of the engine and the fuelcan be delivered tothe engineI at the correct rate even if the vacuum inthe intake manifold should In its performance the apparatus shown inFigs. 1 and 6 are similar.

The greatest advantage in both these fuel distributing arangements isthat the air can be drawn into the engine with a very smallpressure dropbelow atmospheric,- that it can be cold, that the volumetric efficiencyis high and the distribution of the fuel perfect.

What I claim is:

l. A multicylinder internal combustion engine having an intake ram tubefor each cylinder and a common intake header for a group of ram tubes,means to allow air for combustion to enter the ram tubes by suckingaction of the engine through the header, a compressor for compressingair outside of the engine and means to use the air passing through thecompressor for lifting and for metering of the fuel and for deliveringthe fuel to the cylinders of the engine.

2. A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having a carbureter, arotating compressor driven by the engine causing a part of the air,required by the engine for combustion, to be carhbureted, means withinthe rotating part of the compressor to meter and to distribute thecarbureted air to the cylinders of the engine and means to mix suchmetered quantities with additional air before its finalcompressionwithin the engine cylinders.

A3. The method of distributing fuel into the cylinders of amulti-cylinder internal combustion engine which consists inprecompressing a part of the air required by the engine for combustionoutside of the engine after the fuel has been added to it, dividing themixture while being compressed into charges and causing said charges tobe distributed to the engine cylinders in the firing order and to bemixed vwith additional air required by each cylinder for combustion.

4. Fuel distributing and metering system for multi-cylinder internalcombustion engines comprising a compressor compressing primary air andfuel, means to deliver secondary air required for combustion to thecylinders and-means integral with the compressor for dividing theprimary air and fuel into equal parts and distributing and deliveringsuch parts to the cylinders of the engine in the firing order.

.5. A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine with an air intakemanifold having an inlet, means to pass yuncar-bureted air through saidmanifold towards the engine cylinders, means to inject meteredquantities of a mixture of air and fuel into the vuncarbureted airsomewhere between the said inlet and a piston of the engine before theair has been compressed to its final compression pressure Within theengine cylinder,

means causing the fuel to :he divided in metered charges and the chargesto be distributed in firing order to the engine cylinders. V

6. In a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine the combination of anair intake manifold for drawing air into the cylinders by sucking actionof the engine, a compressor 'outside of the engine operating insynchronism with the engine for compressing primary air and means todraw fuel by this primary air and to distribute it into the cylinders insubstantially equal charges lby means working independently from theengine suction.

'1. In a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine having a free oratmospheric air inlet controned by e valve, e fuel metering and fueldistributing compressor with an air and fuel inlet,`

means to deliver mixture of air and fuel from the compressor in meteredquantities to the cylinders, and means to allow sufficient air to enterthe compressor to make the engine idle while the said air inletcontrolling valve is closed, the air entering means and the inlet valvebeing'simultaneously and coordinately operable.

8. Fuel controlling means for a. multi-cylinder internal combustionengine comprising a carbureter and anvintake manifold, each having anindependent air inlet, each air inlet controlled by a separate valve,'a' compressor drawing air through the carbureter and through one ofsaid valves for metering and distributing the fuel to the cylinders, andlever interconnecting means to operate the valves 4manually* in unison,so as to cause the -delivery of a rich mixture of fuel' and air to theengine at light load and a lean mixture at higher load of the engine.

GO'I'IHARD S. OS'I'ERBERG.

